Breather: A Cruel Game
by IchigoluvsRukiaforever
Summary: Beetlejuice finds himself in a sticky situation when Juno tells him of a plan that could ensure his place in the world of the living. Lydia Deetz, his object of obsession, becomes a pawn in his cruel, joking game of love. But all is not as it seems...
1. Just Drop Dead

Hello everyone. It's been a very long time since I did anything to this story, but I feel really bad about not finishing it. A lot of people have asked me to finish and I really want to, so in order for me to be inspired again, I have decided to re-write this over. I'm sorry that I'm not very good at finishing these things. Please forgive me, my faithful readers. Enjoy…

Disclaimer – I don't own Beetlejuice. That's probably a good thing.

Chapter One: Just Drop Dead

Beetlejuice glared through the mirror at Lydia Deetz and wondered how she could just continue her everyday life like nothing had ever happened between the two of them. True, she didn't want anything to do with. She didn't want to marry him, and he had looked past that at first, because after all he was a dead guy and was much older than she was, but then he figured that there was nothing wrong with the idea because if she would have just married him, he would have left her alone. That would have been it. No one would have been hurt or eaten by a sandworm. He grumbled under his breath and looked away from the mirror, spotting a black beetle crawling for the safety of a crack in the wall beside his foot. He reached down and picked the bug up, curiously watching it struggle between his dirty fingers.

"Well," he said to the beetle, "Things aren't always so easy for us, are they?"

He tossed the bug into his mouth and then went back to watching the girl, waiting very patiently for her to slip up, come across some reminder. He could already hear her voice whispering his name. The thought made him shudder. It was never that easy, he had learned that long ago. But while he watched Lydia Deetz, he got a feeling in his gut, a pained sort of feeling unlike anything he had ever felt in his entire life or afterlife. It was something that he was sure he had never wanted to feel. The feeling could be easily discarded, however, and thrown out with yesterday's trash.

"Come on, Lydia," he said slowly, letting his fingers touch the icy mirror and trace the outline of her.

"Don't you know how to leave people alone?" Juno's angry voice asked from the door. She walked into the room, her eyes watching Lydia too, but only for a minute. She looked back at Beetlejuice and frowned.

"Sure, but I just don't want to leave Lydia Deetz alone," he answered. Something about that startled him. From the time, three years ago, when he had been so rudely sent back to the Neitherworld, he had been fixed on watching the girl. He shook his head and told himself that he didn't want to leave Lydia Deetz alone because she was his only ticket out of this world and into the Breather's world again.

"I don't understand you at all, Beetlejuice," Juno said, watching him closely, "How can someone like you, who has been punished for your past attempts at trying to escape and become part of the living world again keep it up? You sit there, and watch Miss Deetz with eyes so full of passion, but what I don't know is what kind of passion lurks within your mind."

Juno sounded concerned, but Beetlejuice just smirked and tapped on the glass with one finger. She saw passion in his eyes, did she? He chuckled softly and then turned away from the window, giving Juno his full attention.

"Passion, huh?" he laughed. "I guess hate is passionate."

Juno looked past Beetlejuice at Lydia who was sketching something. She looked back at Beetlejuice and her frown deepened.

"You don't have the girl, Beetlejuice," she whispered, "If you do, you shouldn't. It's not her fault that you're here, and that she wouldn't marry you. It's your own."

"Humph," he said, folding his arms and leaning against the mirror.

"Now, now, Beetlejuice," Juno said, "I'm leaving, and I'd expect you to do the same."

"I ain't leaving, Juno. This is _**my**_ home and if _**I**_ want to stand here all day and watch Lydia Deetz, that is _**my**_ business, not yours," he said angrily, "I don't have to do anything."

"Fine, but it would probably be best to just leave her alone," Juno explained, making her way toward the door. Suddenly she added, "You know you don't hate her."

Beetlejuice watched her leave and shook his head before turning to look back at Lydia.

"Like I could ever love a breather," he whispered and then yelled, "I _**don't**_ love Lydia Deetz. I never have, and I never will."

With those words, the girl's eyes shot up to the mirror, and stared straight at him, only, he knew she couldn't see him. She set her pencil and sketchpad down, and leisurely walked up to the mirror.

Her face shadowed over as she leaned in closer.

"Beetlejuice?" she asked in a shaky voice. She shook her head and turned to walk away, "No, I'm only hearing things."

She sat back down and laughed quietly before beginning to sketch once more. Beetlejuice watched her and a smile played across his face.

"That was once," he said to himself. But something didn't seem right, how could she have heard him? How could she have known it had come from the mirror? "Something's really not right."

Beetlejuice looked down at the girl with curious eyes. Nothing seemed different about her, or at least he thought, until his eyes feel to her right hand. A tiny band on her ring finger shimmered in the dim light. It was his ring. She was wearing his ring! Something about the thought of her wearing the small golden band excited him. If his heart had been beating, it would have stopped. If he were breathing, his breath would have stilled. Something about the ring opened some different feeling towards the girl, something Beetlejuice had never felt before towards a living…or un-living soul.

He didn't like the new feeling, however, and he wanted to get rid of it. He glared down at the girl and waited until she was totally fixed on her drawing before he whispered,

"Just Drop Dead."

Well…I hope everyone here enjoys this new version of Breather as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Remember. I love reviews!

-Hearts-


	2. Let Me Breathe Again

Hello, once more! I hope that everyone has enjoyed my last chapter and is ready for chapter two! Again, I am sorry for taking so long in updating all my stories. Right now, my main concern is the book I'm writing and so I haven't had time for anything on this site. I'm sorry! Please enjoy:

Disclaimer: I don't own Beetlejuice and it's probably still a good thing.

Chapter Two: Let Me Breathe Again

Beetlejuice calmly watched from his side of the mirror as Lydia attempted to sketch a human-like figure. He found it quite amusing to watch her, especially when she messed up. She made such a big deal over messing up, and occasionally would start over. He wondered what she was sketching, but he could only make out the distinctive pencil strokes of a human body and certain features like its eyes, nose, and mouth.

He turned away from the mirror and leaned his back against the cold glass. His eyes scanned the ground for any sign of a beetle, but there weren't any. He sighed and held his hand out in front of him unconsciously, still thinking about the ring that he had seen on Lydia's slender pale fingers.

On any other day he would have enjoyed watching her, but today, something about the gothic girl seemed different. He had a gut sinking feeling that she knew that he was watching her and that maybe she had somehow figured out his scheme. He shook his head and turned back around.

"She doesn't know," he assured himself.

Lydia looked up from her drawing and frowned at the mirror. She set aside the booklet and her pencil, stood, and then walked up to the mirror. Her pale finger with its painted black nail touched the glass and she smiled.

"I know you're in there, Beetlejuice," she whispered, "But you should just know that I won't let you out. After all, I made a promise, and I don't go back on _**mine**_."

He smiled.

"I know you're there, Beej, so why don't you show yourself?" her smile was quickly fading by the time she asked the question.

"You've said my name two times, Babes, just once more and I'll be free," he laughed, and for a moment he wondered if she could hear what he was saying. She only shook her head and sighed.

"You're not so tough now, are you? I didn't think so," Lydia snickered. Her eyes fell down to her hand which lay on the dresser. "Why don't you just go and do something else with the rest of your afterlife that doesn't involve you watching me?"

"I wish I could, Babes, but I can't," he replied, watching her storm out of her room in a fit of rage and frustration, probably angered that he was watching her.

"Have you had your fun yet?" Juno glumly asked from the doorway.

Beetlejuice turned around and glared at Juno before smirking and saying, "Haven't you already bothered me enough for one afterlife?"

"I came here because, unfortunately for Lydia Deetz, I have a deal to make with you," Juno said, smiling rather childishly.

What Juno said sparked interest into Beetlejuice and he walked toward her with a sheepish look on his face, "And that would be?"

"And that would be?" Beetlejuice asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Cut the attitude if you want to know, Beetlejuice."

He grinned wider and asked, "What attitude? I just asked what the deal could possibly be. Besides, who wouldn't have an attitude if someone just barged into their house without even knocking?"

Ignoring him, Juno spoke softly in an almost whisper, "I found a way for you to become and stay a Breather."

"Let me hear it," he said after a moment, "I want to know."

Juno sighed and rolled her eyes. "You have one year to make Lydia fall in love with you. For that year, you will be bound to the living through her. If she loves you when the year is up, you are bound to the breathers by your own soul. If you should choose so, you may become one with the living, which means that if you still hate the girl, you can simply just leave her."

Beetlejuice smirked and then looked over at Lydia, who was now in her room, before looking back at Juno. "So…all I have to do is make fall for me, eh? It shouldn't be hard, seeing as I'm such a handsome guy."

"That's all you've got do, Beetlejuice, and have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"I look into mirrors all the time, Juno," he smirked.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Juno said.

"Yea, alright, so I'll have her call me out, and then my year will begin. Sounds fun," he told her.

"Good," Juno said, "I just hope you understand what this will do to the poor girl."

"Who cares what it does to her…I'll be free!" Beetlejuice exclaimed.

"So it is true…Beetlejuice loves only himself," Juno muttered, and then she left.

Beetlejuice looked back at the mirror, and pressed his fingers up against the cold, unfeeling glass. Lydia was staring up again. She was so close. Close enough to see the rise and fall of her chest with each breath she took. Close enough to almost feel her warmth on his icy skin.

"Lydia," he whispered, and smiled when he saw her react…she could hear him. "Let me breathe again, Babes."


End file.
